The X-Files season 11 episode 5 review: Who is Jackson Van De Kamp?

It shouldn’t come as all that great of a shock that The X-Files season 11 episode 5 started off with a great deal of terror — how else do you describe a battle between a monster and a young girl that ended in such a horrifying way? There were two girls at the scene, but the good news is that they’ll survive.

After the opening attack sequence, the focus shifted quickly over to Mulder and Scully, with the latter still suffering from some serious visions. When the two parties arrived at the scene of the crime, the authorities were chalking it up to a stabbing attack. This, in turn, led to more questions. Why did these two stab each other? Did they have a history that wasn’t necessarily clear?

Mulder and Scully eventually made it to the hospital to speak with the victims, who felt as though they were both victim to a maze — they were in a house that wasn’t there, wandering around in a dream-like state. They were both apparently dating the same guy named Jackson Van De Kamp (which was certainly odd), and then things became even odder when they arrived at the house in the girls’ respective visions — it was also the setting of the dreams that Scully had been having.

Immediately after this, the thought entered our mind: Have we met William? We certainly hoped not, given that this kid had apparently murdered his parents before committing suicide.

The moment that Scully arrived to pay William a visit at the morgue, she made it pretty clear afterward that she, also, was buying into this theory. Gillian Anderson delivered in turn one of her most heartbreaking monologues ever as she tried her best to explained to the deceased young man why she did what she did.

The plot thickened even more when Scully realizes that the dreams were not going away … and that the body completely disappeared. Is William walking among the living again?

The end of the project

It was Walter Skinner who gave Mulder the information about the research project that was shut down years ago — the one that ended up spawning Jackson Van De Camp. This was the first that Mulder learned that the boy was a direct product of this project.

Scully, meanwhile, tried to do everything that she could in order to get a better understanding as to who Jackson was, including if he was really someone capable of murder as some of the rumors out there suggested. When she reconvened with Mulder, the two were able to work together in order to conjure up a better sense of understanding as to what happened with Jackson, and where he actually was. He wasn’t gone at all, mostly because he was able to manipulate perception. He made his two “girlfriends” believe in the opening that he was a monster, which led to the two attacking each other. Meanwhile, he projected to Mulder, Scully, and others that he was dead. He spelled out some of it to one of the girlfriends when he went to visit them in the hospital. Who would’ve thought that William was basically Dean from Bachelor in Paradise this past summer?

The confrontation

It was only a matter of time before Mulder and Scully figured this out and it led to one of the craziest confrontations of the entire season. This was one that led to William using his projections again for the sake of self-preservation, creating more monsters out of agents in order to convince them to shoot each other.

You knew that there were only two people who could stop him — at least in theory. They eventually came close to discovering him but it just didn’t happen … or did it? Scully’s visitor at the end, at least to us, was SO obviously William that we’re appalled that Scully didn’t realize it. He had a conversation with him without knowing it. Then, it was over.

CarterMatt Verdict

The X-Files season 11 episode 5 was a story of many things, including of pain, longing, and fear. It also brought us a version of William that was exciting, if a bit unexpected. Through these past two episodes, we’re at least thrilled to say that The X-Files is back to being the great show that it once was.

What did you think about The X-Files season 11 episode 5 overall? Share some of your thoughts in the comments!